Lowering the Bar As far as Tony Perez’s Hall of Fame credentials go, here’s another way to look at it: Was anybody outside of Cincinnati a Tony Perez fan while he was active? You know, little kids emulating his stance around the schoolyard? Cherishing his baseball cards? I don’t think so. The same goes for…
Watching the clips of yet another great Pedro Martinez performance in yet another close game got me thinking about the relative stress levels of pitchers. It certainly seems that Martinez has pitched in an inordinate number of close games this season, which means that most of his innings have been fairly high-stress, at least in…
Theories on how altitude makes Coors Field such a great hitters’ park abound, as do theories as to why Rockies’ hitters seem to do so poorly on the road. The theory we like is that their hitters simply suck, but not everyone sees it that way. Colorado third baseman Jeff Cirillo had this to say…
Some things you know, and some you don’t know: Since joining the rotation at the end of May, the Devil Rays’ Albie Lopez has been one of the best starters in the American League. After last night’s performance against the Tigers, Lopez has gone at least five innings in all of his 11 starts. His…
Previous Transaction Analysis ANAHEIM ANGELS Placed LHP Jarrod Washburn on the 15-day DL (strained bicep); recalled IF Justin Baughman from Edmonton. [7/23] If the Angels had to name their MVP today, would Jarrod Washburn get any votes? Sure, Troy Glaus ought to win handily, and Darin Erstad would probably be the actual winner; among pitchers,…
In a dramatic turnaround, the Cincinnati Reds signed All-Star shortstop Barry Larkin to a three-year extension on Sunday, just days after completing a trade–which Larkin vetoed–that would have sent him to the New York Mets. As mentioned Friday, signing Larkin is not the kind of move we would typically endorse, given Larkin’s advanced age, 36,…
Lynched When the other shoe dropped in Chicago, it wasn’t a Sammy Sosa deal. General Manager Ed Lynch was awarded the famed Pink Slip and one month’s salary and benefits as this year’s Snuggly Cubbie Scapegoat. Team President Andy MacPhail will assume the duties of the general manager until a new warm body is found,…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Optioned RHP Lou Pote to Edmonton; recalled RHP Brian Cooper from Edmonton. [7/17] For the time being, this gives the Angels a rotation of Cooper, Kent Bottenfield, Ken Hill, Jarrod Washburn and Seth Etherton. Scott Schoeneweis should be back before the trading deadline, which gives the Angels the opportunity to either deal Bottenfield…
The potential makeup of the United States Olympic Baseball team is becoming public, and there are ill omens for USA Baseball’s chances against the world. There will be 24 players and six alternates on the team, so we can look for team manager Tommy Lasorda to take a more-or-less standard roster with 14 position players…
Ten days remain until the switch is turned off on baseball’s mid-season blue light special and, mathematically, any of the teams outside the Lone Star State could be in first place at the end of July. Since all of the clubs still harbor thoughts of donning their uniforms in October, let’s look at what each…
A HOT JULY NIGHT "It’s a very, very proud time for the New York Yankees. Their future did a great job tonight." — Joe Torre, AL Manager, on the All-Star Game "We’ve been watching that ever since he came to the big leagues." — Bobby Cox, NL Manager, on Derek Jeter‘s MVP performance "We played…
So many topics, so little time… It’s hard to argue with the suspension Carl Everett received. There is a lot of silliness on each extreme, with apologists at one end and executioners at the other. Everett lost control and in an effort to intimidate, did the thing you can’t do, which is make contact with…
Bill James wrote, some time ago, that the Hall of Fame can’t really honor players any more–it can only insult them. I don’t believe that’s true; ballplayers already in don’t care too much who gets honored after them, and anyone who gets in is generally pretty damn happy to be there. But what can happen…
The Era of Offense has not barred scrubs from the party. The last eight years are not only remarkable for 70 homers and 400 total bases and league ERAs approaching 5.00. The little guys have gotten in the act as well, putting together some of the greatest September callups and fluke seasons of all time….
In my years of following baseball, I’ve formed the impression that starters who pitch in the All-Star Game tend to be a little off in their first start after the midsummer classic. This year, while watching SportsCenter highlights of Al Leiter getting shellacked, I decided to look a little more deeply to see if my…
After we posted the results of our informal mid-season awards poll last week, we got a number of responses that looked like this: OK…who does the voting for your MVP award? NL: Name the player who leads the league in OBP and slugging (and obviously OPS), whose team is in first place and who leads…